India, China, Russia, US and EU driving military spending; it’s stalling development, says UN

The United Nations in a report on Tuesday said a record military spending was not just threatening global peace but was also stalling development.

It named a handful of countries, including India, for driving the trends on military spending. “China, India, Russia, the US and the European Union account for over 70 per cent of military expenditure and two-thirds of global emissions,” the report said.

Titled ‘The security we need: Rebalancing military spending for a sustainable and peaceful future’, the report warns that India, Thailand and Bangladesh could face a refugee influx due to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. The ruling junta’s campaign against internal opposition forces has pushed Myanmar’s military expenditure to $5 billion in 2024, a 66 per cent increase over the previous year and the largest percentage rise worldwide. “The conflict has heightened the risk of violence and refugee flows into Bangladesh, India and Thailand,” it added.

The UN said that globally a decade-long military build-up, and global military spending have hit a record high in 2024, soaring by more than nine per cent from 2023 and signalling a dangerous move away from the principles of the UN Charter.

The report urges UN member states to recalibrate security and development priorities. “The evidence is clear: excessive military spending does not guarantee peace,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said as he launched the report on Tuesday.

Global military spending, which hit $2.7 trillion last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, is projected to reach $6.6 trillion by 2035 if the current trends persist.

“The massive diversion of resources poses a serious threat to humanity's future by undermining sustainable peace and development.”

The report reveals a stark paradox: as military spending soars to record levels, the world is critically off-track to meet the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—humanity’s blueprint for a more equitable future.

The annual financing gap for the SDGs is already $4 trillion and could widen to $6.4 trillion in the coming years.

Global military spending is not only increasing in absolute terms, but its share of the global economy is rising as well. Since 2022, it has climbed from 2.2 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the world's Gross Domestic Product and from 6.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent of government budgets.

The shift is widespread, with more than 100 countries boosting their military spending in 2024 alone.